Amigo. I ended up vegging for much longer than I wanted to due to equipment problems and I had a problem with overcrowding on the bottom 1/3 - 1/2 of all my plants. I did the same exact thing only with more plants and they are thriving as well, regardless of looking like skeletons for the bottom 1/2. My canopy was so dense that my 1000w lamp that was about 1.5-2' away could not penetrate more than about 6" down into it. All the leaves at the bottom just started to die off, then I got hit with PM in all the spots that the leaves were touching each other(My environment is right in every aspect, temp, humidity, I even have a circulation fan at the bottom of the plants, at the canopy of hte plants and even blowing down from on top of the canopy with a wall mounted fan). Not to mention the fact that my plants stopped stretching after a few days and buds exploded over the next 2 days and that was only on day 6 of flower.
I may not have been growing very long but from my logical standpoint (after all my research and now seeing it for my own 2 eyes) I think that as long as you are providing the correct nutrients that the plant WOULD have used from those leaves that were basically not being fed with light, you are fine with chopping. As long as there is enough healthy vigorous growth up top to support the main buds. My logic behind cutting the bottom BEFORE I got hit with PM was the fact that I did not want a bunch of popcorn bud that sat in the dark the entire flower period.
P.S. I'm not here to get flamed by some ignorant know it all this is just my opinion and experience, some people take peoples comments on this forum way too seriously. Take it as you will.
Looks good Amigo! I'm sure your harvest will not severely suffer. Mine seems to be thriving at week 3 after the chop.